Tom Williams

The title, The Price, has a dual meaning — on the surface the price is the amount haggled over and agreed upon for the apartment’s furnishings ($1,100). The price is also a fact of life. Whatever you do, whatever trade-offs you make in life, there is always a “price” that you’ll pay. Victor sacrificed a promising career in science to support his father. Walter, realizing that the father is more selfish than needy, went his own way and later, wanting his brother to speak to the illusion of the father’s neediness, refused Victor’s plea for a modest loan of $500– causing the final rift in an already fragile relationship.

Always…Patsy Cline has a true story basis in an incident that found super-fan Louise Seger (the terrific Janelle Snow) introducing herself to Patsy in 1961 at a Huston honky-tonk. The two women instantly became friends and confidants.

McGhan’s polished script puts a face on the middle class working stiffs who spent 35 years as airplane mechanics with fishing the Minnesota River as their main personal escape and recreation. The attention to details of these avid fisherman by McGhan and director Drew Martin nicely utilizes Alan Donahue’s impressive wooden wharf/pier set where the folks meet to socialize while fishing.